Funeral held for three kids killed in Christmas day fire

The mother of three children who died with their grandparents in a Christmas day fire in Stamford, Conn., addressed mourners at their funeral today.

Madonna Badger wailed as she followed the three coffins out of the church. More than 500 people attended the service in the heart of Manhattan on Thursday.

John Moore / Getty Images

Matthew Badger, left, and Madonna Badger, the parents of the three children killed in the fire, grieve as one of the caskets is carried into St. Thomas Episcopal church on Thursday. Madonna Badger's friend, Michael Borcina, stands behind them as he comforts her. Borcina and Madonna Badger were the only two to survive the fire.

Investigators said that Badger’s friend Michael Borcina took smoldering embers out of the fireplace because Badger’s daughters were afraid they might hurt Santa when he dropped down the chimney.

Eduardo Munoz / Reuters

Madonna Badger, her husband Matthew, and their relatives watch the arrival of their daughters' caskets during their funeral service at Saint Thomas Episcopal Church in New York on Jan. 5. The pallbearers were 18 firefighters from Stamford, Conn., who responded to the fire.

The embers were left near an entryway where they ignited the house. The girls' grandparents also died in the fire. The grandfather died trying to help one of the girls get out.

Grief-stricken Madonna Badger, who survived the house fire that killed her daughters and parents, prepares to say goodbye to the family she lost.